As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to these users is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may vary with respect to the type of information handled; the methods for handling the information; the methods for processing, storing or communicating the information; the amount of information processed, stored, or communicated; and the speed and efficiency with which the information is processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include or comprise a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An information handling system, such as a server system, may be placed within a rack. A rack may house multiple server systems, and multiple racks are typically placed in a room that is known as a data center or server room. A typical server room will include rows of racks. One difficulty of data centers is the heat generated by the multiple servers in the data center. Excessive heat leads to high cooling costs for a data center and can result in the degradation in the performance of the computer systems of the rack or data center. Additionally, servers often include active components. Once a server has been installed in a rack, the failure of an active component of the server may necessitate the need for service which increases the system cost and may be time consuming.
It is desirable to efficiently manage and monitor the servers that are located in a data center and minimize the post installation maintenance costs associated with the servers. Additionally, it is desirable to achieve optimal system efficiency by allowing the servers to share system resources such as the fans required to cool the servers and the servers' power distribution units.